Florida

I had a great time in the sunny state of Florida this past weekend visiting my Aunt and Uncle down there. We got free tickets to Universal and Disney and ended up going to Epcot for the day and then Universal in the evening to see the Mardi Gras parade and stay for the concert afterward. It was a Kelly Clarkson concert where we had an awful place to stand, but we could see the stage which was more than a lot of other people could say, so that’s something to be happy about!

We have a full week of classes this coming week and not a whole lot of outside things. That means we’re going to need a lot of candy/sugar to keep from falling asleep in some of the big lectures because the lecture hall we have them in is quite possibly the worst venue for those type of lessons. It’s this giant room that all the people in the two squadrons fill about the first ten rows (of probably fifty rows) and the seats are really comfortable. Putting tired people in a comfortable seat for a boring lesson is just the ultimate recipe for disaster.

Watching The Office here in the rooms is still a hugely frustrating experience. The Internet (when it is actually working) is way too slow to effectively do any type of work. I would think places like this should have decent Internet connections because a lot of us are taking classes online at the same time we are here and doing that on this connection is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.

Really?

Sprint, really?

You’ve decided that you don’t want to included true MMS messaging on any of your phones because you can’t support two systems at once? Really? So the whole fact that you have both an iDEN network and a CDMA network both operating simultaneously (and in some cases, simultaneously in the same handset) didn’t present a few problems at first? And color me surprised because having to maintain PicMail means you HAVE TO MAINTAIN A SYSTEM. True MMS delivers pictures to the PHONE, not a server. By intercepting my picture messages and formatting them and placing them on a server then sending me a text message with a link to access that message (but only for 60 days) you are SAVING yourself work? Really? I could have sworn running zero servers is almost always better than running ANY servers at all. Especially when your phones already support the standardized protocol. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you have customers leaving in absolute droves. You’re losing customers at a rate of 2.6% a quarter. I’m no math major, but losing 1.3 MILLLION people a quarter cannot be good for business. I want you to do well, but with Google getting ready to release a slew of Android phones this year and Apple releasing an updated version of their iPhone’s OS, I don’t know that you are going to be able to hang in there without some sort of miracle. When you have people like me willing to spend well over twice their total monthly bill to switch carriers and get a better phone with better service, something is desperately wrong. Yet somehow you say you will be coming through this year with more users at the end. Really? You think that people are going to take your word for it or are you actually going to start getting more customers sometime soon?

And Apple, you don’t escape unscathed.

Apple, really?
You create this super neat phone and don’t include rudimentary features like copy/cut/paste? Really? Did one of the engineers or developers think that was a good idea? I’m glad you’re finally coming around with it, but it took until version THREE of your operating system to come up with that? Are you sure it couldn’t have come out earlier? Are you sure you didn’t just hold out on that feature until sales started to slow down and then ‘release’ that ‘new’ feature to boost sales for just a little while longer? That’s just business, so I can’t fault you for that, but you work for the customers because you would be absolutely nowhere without them. And now that Steve Jobs is sick and out of work, you need public support and confidence more than ever. Do you think everyone out there is willing to accept all your products without a problem? You just released a shuffle with not a single button. Did you really think that was a good idea? I’m thinking you might sell some, but my prediction is your biggest sales are going to come from the refurbished iPod Shuffles that are available on your web site every now and then.

I’m starting to think that Android is going to be my last chance given to Sprint. It’s that or the Samsung Dash that’s coming out in Q3 of this year that is going to keep me with the company. I have a great rate with them because I know an employee, but I’m willing to pay for a customer experience.

Take heed Sprint and Apple, I am your prime target. I’m a single, 20-something person with a small to moderate amount of disposable income and am a stickler for good customer service. If you can’t get me on board your products, you’re going to have a heck of a time getting the general public on board.

Photos

I’ve finally upgraded my older Flickr account to allow unlimited uploads for all the pictures I take. I figured I may as well do that because I’ve been taking a lot of pictures here at ASBC and I want to share them with everyone. In case you wanted to see some of them, there is a tab right at the top of this page that will take you to the latest pictures I’ve uploaded. You can also go to my Flickr page to see the rest!

This week was great as we came back from the field and did a full day of Self Aid and Buddy Care (SABC). My flight commander inserted a nasal pharyngeal tube into my nose and they aren’t as comfortable as I thought it would be. It did make it incredibly easy to breath though, so I suppose it did its job.

I got absolutely fried in the sun this past week which means hot showers are now a lot of fun as I work to keep my neck and arms out of the hot water. In case you didn’t pick up on it, it’s not actually fun; it’s called saracasm.

Alabama

I’ve successfully arrived in Alabama and now I’m just settling in. Once again, the base lodging does not have wireless Internet though it DOES have wired Internet. If nothing else, that’s a step in the right direction. I didn’t pick up my new camera on Friday, but I went to pick one up yesterday with some friends and it’s pretty sweet. One thing I don’t like is the smile detection. It’s supposed to help your picture taking ability by watching people and waiting until they are smiling to take the picture. I don’t like that my camera watches me until I’m smiling. What if I didn’t want to smile? You have to push a button to turn it on, but still.

The drive wasn’t bad and because I left a few minutes early from work, I managed to get three hours of driving in on Friday afternoon. I’m pretty excited about getting this training started! I’m tired now and headed to bed. Here’s hoping the new few weeks are fun!